RSS
New York Times Takes Iran’s Side in US-Iran Talks
The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The New York Times coverage of the US-Iran nuclear talks seems written from Iran’s perspective.
One Times article reports that the talks “come at a perilous moment, as Iran has lost the air defenses around its key nuclear sites because of precise Israeli strikes last October. And Iran can no longer rely on its proxy forces in the Middle East — Hamas, Hezbollah and the now-ousted Assad government in Syria — to threaten Israel with retaliation.”
For Israel and America, it’s a less perilous moment, as we no longer have to worry about our planes getting shot down by Iranian air defenses. “Perilous” seems to be from the point of view of the Iranian terror-sponsoring regime. For America and Iran, it’s a hopeful moment, as we may finally eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat or, even better yet, the terror-sponsoring and oppressive Iranian regime.
The same Times article, by David Sanger and Farnaz Fassihi, reports, “Many Iranians have begun to talk openly about the need for the country to build a weapon since it has proved fairly defenseless in a series of missile exchanges with Israel last year.”
That spins the Iranian nuclear weapon as a matter of Iranian defense, when in fact the Iranians have been pursuing it for decades as part of their goal of wiping Israel off the map. Even the Times article concedes as much later on, reporting that “Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has been operating for decades and is spread around the country, much of it deep underground.”
The same Times article goes on to contend, “If Mr. Trump does not achieve full dismantlement, he will be forced to confront questions about whether he got anything more than the Obama administration got a decade ago. Mr. Trump dismissed that accord as a ‘disaster’ and an embarrassment, noting it would lift all restrictions on Iran’s nuclear production by 2030. Now his challenge, experts say, will be accomplishing more than Mr. Obama did.”
Who are these unnamed “experts”? Even if Trump simply walks away from the negotiating table without giving Iran the sanctions relief that Obama and Biden did, relief that that allowed funds and weapons to flow to Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, he’ll accomplish more than Obama did. The Obama deal provided a $700 billion subsidy to the terror-sponsoring nation that has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, in exchange for unverifiable short-term promises of a pause in work on nuclear weapons, so “accomplishing more than Mr. Obama did” is a low bar. The Times “experts” apparently don’t include any with that opinion, or, if they do, the Times doesn’t share that view with readers.
In another article, the Times portrays it as a “concession” that Iran is merely willing to talk to America.
Iran has been ardently pursuing negotiations with the US for 30 years, since the Clinton administration, because those negotiations have the potential to pay off in sanctions relief of the sort granted by President Obama’s nuclear deal, which enriched the Iranian regime so that it was able to fund more Hamas and Hezbollah terrorism.
The Times reports in another piece previewing the negotiations, also by Farnaz Fassihi: “On Saturday, Iran and the United States will hold the first round of talks in Oman. If this progresses to face-to-face meetings, it would be a sign of a major concession by Iran, which has insisted it does not want to meet Americans directly.” That’s ridiculous. Merely negotiating isn’t a “major concession”—if anything, it’s a concession by America, which might reasonably take the position that Iran must shutter its nuclear weapons and missiles programs, release political prisoners, and cease its backing of terrorist organizations before earning a meeting with the US For Iran, a “major concession” would be verifiably abandoning the nuclear and missiles programs or ending its hostility toward Israel and America. Simply having a meeting is not a “major concession.” That’s Iranian spin, which the New York Times is passing along unlabeled to readers.
The New York Times has a long and not credible history of cheerleading for Iran nuclear deals with the US. Back in 2022, it relentlessly, breathlessly hyped a deal:
March 8, 2022: “Iran Nuclear Deal Nears Completion…”
January 31, 2022: “US and Allies Close to Reviving Nuclear Deal With Iran….”
January 12, 2022: “…the US and Iran Inch Closer to a Nuclear Pact”
Yet that deal never happened, and the Times never really adequately explained to readers why it so misled them about the likelihood of it.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
The post New York Times Takes Iran’s Side in US-Iran Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
From Iran Nukes to Europe-Israel Diplomacy, New York Times Can’t or Won’t Get the Context Right
The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The New York Times came in with a big editorial denouncing antisemitism and infuriating the Jew-hating readers who populate its comment section — but its news pages keep spreading falsehoods about Israel.
Three recent examples show how Times reporters lack historical or even recent context.
A Times news article about Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich includes this passage:
“Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do it again,” Mr. Smotrich posted on social media in Hebrew, referring to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The intended reference there actually seems to be not “Jewish settlements in the West Bank” but rather the infamous British “White Paper” of 1939 that sharply limited Jewish immigration into the British controlled mandate of Palestine. The White Paper capped Jewish migration at 75,000 over five years, during a moment when millions of Jews were desperately seeking to escape the Nazi onslaught. “After the period of five years, no further Jewish immigration will be permitted unless the Arabs of Palestine are prepared to acquiesce in it,” the White Paper said. It’s astonishing that this has somehow vanished from the Times‘ historical memory.
Another Times news article claimed, “The toll and imposition of a blockade, now partially lifted, in the territory [Gaza] have provoked growing international outrage, including among European states like France and Britain little inclined to sharp criticism of Israel in the past.” The idea that the outrage is “provoked” by Israeli actions rather than motivated by the growing and restive Muslim populations in France and Britain is questionable. There’s no outrage against Egypt, which also borders Gaza. And it’s inaccurate to say that France and Britain have been “little inclined to sharp criticism of Israel in the past.”
For example, in 2019 a French diplomatic statement said, “France condemns the decisions taken by the Israeli authorities on 5 and 6 August allowing for the construction of 2,304 housing units on the West Bank. These decisions come amid the troubling acceleration of settlement building on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. As stated in UN Security Council Resolution 2334, these settlements are contrary to international law. This policy further heightens tensions on the ground and gravely undermines the conditions for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on a two-state solution.”
A brief for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs reported, “For many years, France has been the driving force behind anti-Israel political attitudes in the EU. In addition, former Israeli UN ambassador Yehuda Blum noted, ‘The French at the UN were the leaders of every anti-Israel initiative originating in Europe throughout. Theirs was a totally unbalanced position. We counted them in the Arab camp.’”
In 2002, British and French foreign ministers met with Yasser Arafat at a time when George W. Bush was trying to freeze Arafat out.
A third example of Times cluelessness comes from the paper’s “live” news coverage of the war between Israel and Iran. “In his first television interview since Israel struck Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli intelligence found that Iran had enough uranium to build nine nuclear bombs but did not provide any evidence for that claim,” the Times said. The “did not provide evidence” phrase is a tic that the Times uses against people it doesn’t like in order to signal to readers that what those people say cannot be trusted.
The Times itself reported in December 2024, “Iran already has enough of a stockpile to make the fuel for four weapons in a matter of weeks or days.” Another recent Times article commented on Netanyahu’s claim of nine weapons by noting, “Other experts put the figure slightly higher, at 10, but the actual number would depend on how efficiently the Iranians prove to be at producing a warhead or a bomb.”
How much more evidence does the Times want? On June 9, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency spoke publicly about Iran, saying, “The agency cannot ignore the stockpiling of over 400 kg of highly enriched uranium.” An analysis put out the same day by the Institute for Science and International Security of the May 31, 2025, IAEA quarterly monitoring report says, “Iran can convert its current stock of 60 percent enriched uranium into 233 kg of WGU in three weeks at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), enough for 9 nuclear weapons, taken as 25 kg of weapon-grade uranium (WGU) per weapon … Iran could produce its first quantity of 25 kg of WGU in Fordow in as little as two to three days … Breaking out in both Fordow and the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), the two facilities together could produce enough WGU for 11 nuclear weapons in the first month, enough for 15 nuclear weapons by the end of the second month, 19 by the end of the third month, 21 by the end of the fourth month, and 22 by the end of the fifth month.”
I guess the Times could litigate that Netanyahu is eliding the conversion from highly enriched to weapon-grade, but he’s giving a wartime television interview, not a technical nuclear briefing.
So, when the Times complains that Netanyahu “did not provide any evidence,” the newspaper is just displaying its own bias and lack of knowledge about the context, as surely as it did in the other examples. One thing for which there is surely a lot of evidence: the Times‘s own weak grasp of basic details, history, and context for the events unfolding in the Middle East.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. He writes frequently at TheEditors.com. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
The post From Iran Nukes to Europe-Israel Diplomacy, New York Times Can’t or Won’t Get the Context Right first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Antisemitic Incidents in Argentina Surge by 15% Amid Global Rise, New Report Finds
Argentina’s President Javier Milei attends a commemoration event ahead of the anniversary of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Martin Cassarini
Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in reported antisemitic incidents last year, as the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in the Middle East sparked a rise in hate crimes, according to a report issued by the country’s Jewish umbrella organization on Thursday.
The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) presented the 2024 Annual Report on Antisemitism in Argentina, which recorded 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes — up from 598 antisemitic incidents in 2023 — marking a notable surge in antisemitic activity in the country.
According to the report, X and Facebook were the main platforms where hate messages were spread. However, antisemitic incidents also increased in public spaces, schools, and even neighborhoods.
“Hate may change its form, but it never truly disappears,” DAIA said in a post on X. “Behind every statistic is a story — a person, a community, a wound.”
El odio se transforma, pero no desaparece.
El Informe Anual sobre Antisemitismo en la Argentina 2024 presentado hoy por la DAIA registró 687 denuncias recibidas, un aumento del 15 por respecto al año anterior.
El ataque del 7 de octubre y la guerra en Medio Oriente reactivaron… pic.twitter.com/euEodYmswF— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 19, 2025
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories.
There was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
“At DAIA, we are committed every day to raising awareness, reporting, and eliminating antisemitism in all its forms,” the organization said in a statement. “Because staying silent is part of the problem.”
The report explains that the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel has triggered a surge in antisemitic expressions, with 39.5 percent of the hate crimes involving discourse related to the war in Gaza, followed by 23.5 percent involving Nazi symbolism.
Argentina has been hardly alone in reporting a surge in anti-Jewish crimes. According to the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel, there was a staggering 340 percent increase in total antisemitic incidents worldwide in 2024 compared to 2022.
For example, the United States reported a 288 percent increase in antisemitic atrocities last year compared to 2022, while Canada experienced a 562 percent surge over the same period.
In Europe, France saw a surge of over 350 percent in antisemitic incidents, while the United Kingdom recorded a 450 percent spike, with nearly 2,000 acts of antisemitism in just the first half of 2024.
In South Africa, antisemitic incidents rose by 185 percent, while Australia experienced a sharp increase of 387 percent.
At the global level, the report found that 41 percent of incidents involved antisemitic propaganda, 15.5 percent included acts of violence, and around 25 percent were related to Israel.
The research also revealed that online antisemitism surged, rising by more than 300 percent.
With Argentine President Javier Milei among the most vocal supporters of Israel, Argentina has become a key player in global efforts to combat antisemitism and terrorism, while defending democracy and Israel’s right to exist.
Last year, for example, more than 30 countries led by the United States adopted “global guidelines for countering antisemitism” during a gathering of special envoys and other representatives from around the globe in Argentina.
The post Antisemitic Incidents in Argentina Surge by 15% Amid Global Rise, New Report Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Massive Times Square Billboard Denounces ‘Free Palestine’ Movement for Contributing to Rise in Antisemitism
A digital billboard in Times Square organized by the Coalition for Jewish Values that condemns the “Free Palestine” movement. Photo: Provided
A Jewish organization representing more than 2,500 Orthodox rabbis launched a billboard campaign in Times Square on Wednesday that condemns the “Free Palestine” movement for fueling the deadly rise of antisemitism in the US after the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, The Algemeiner has learned.
The 10-second digital advertisement, organized by the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), reads: “Free Palestine = Support for Hamas = Calling for Genocide of Jews. America, Wake Up. It Never Ends With the Jews!” The ad will appear multiple times per hour and be live in Times Square for 30 days, according to CJV.
“When students on college campuses chant ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ America itself is at risk,” said CJV Executive Vice President Rabbi Yaakov Menken in a released statement. “We call upon all Americans to join us in speaking clearly about who and what the bloodthirsty ‘Free Palestine’ movement stands for, and the need to stamp it out.” CJV is the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America.
The United States has recorded more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents since the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to data presented to the Israeli parliament’s Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Commission in January.
Since then, a terrorist set fire to the official residence of Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro because of the arsonist’s support for “Palestine” and the Palestinian people; two Israeli Embassy workers were murdered in Washington, DC, by a gunman who shouted “Free Palestine” before being arrested; and a man who threw Molotov cocktails at people rallying in Boulder, Colorado, for the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip yelled “Free Palestine” during the terror attack.
At a congressional vigil last week for the two Israeli embassy employees murdered in May, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said “the ‘Free Palestine’ call has become a violent movement that collaborates with Hamas.”
“Too many Jewish organizations are afraid to say what Speaker Johnson finds obvious: the cry of ‘Free Palestine’ is the call of domestic terrorists,” said Menken. “Israel is the only free country in the Middle East. The one thing Israel is not free of is Jews, and that is what ‘Free Palestine’ aims to correct, in the model of Hitler’s Final Solution. They have no interest in building a nation but destroying one. They do not want to elevate Palestinian Arabs, but to eradicate Jews. This is classic antisemitism, and history proves that there is no greater danger to the continuity of a civilization.”
The post Massive Times Square Billboard Denounces ‘Free Palestine’ Movement for Contributing to Rise in Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.